China’s Sexual Revolution Inside
Inside China’s sexual revolution
Across 20 years, Chinese citizens are almost five times more likely to have sexual relations before marriage than ever before.
According to Li Yinhe, China’s first female sexologist, this development is because of a “hooliganism law” that enabled women to be arrested for having sex with more than one man.
“In the survey I made in 1989, 15.5 per cent of people had sex before marriage,” Ms Yinhe said in an interview with the BBC, as part of a documentary series for Her Story: The Female Revolution.
“But in the survey I did two years ago, the figure went up to 71 per cent,”
This dramatic change in such a short period of time marks what Yinhe claims is a ‘sexual revolution’ for the people of China, which will be discussed as part of a BBC documentary about The Female Revolution, featuring women around the world who are defining the struggle for equality in the 21st century.
But China’s new behaviour towards sexuality has been a slow burn.
Rewind to China pre-1997, a time when all sexual activities outside of marriage were illegal.
The production of pornography, or organising ‘sex parties’ came with the death penalty if caught, and the punishment for prostitution wasn’t far off in terms of severity.
In 1996, a bathhouse owner was sentenced to death for organised prostitution. Compare this with a 24-year-old Beijing woman who recently published seven sex novels online, gaining a viewership of over 80,000, but who received a punishment of just six months prison under the alleviated laws.
With the law regarding sex outside of marriage overturned in 1997, the punishment for having sex outside marriage has fallen off, and fewer people are being punished for these ‘offences.’ Because of this, as Ms Yinhe suggests, China is in the midst of an “era of important changes.”
One of the main areas driving the change in attitudes to sex, according to Li, was the Communist Party’s one-child policy, which was abolished last year.
“The one-child policy allows people to have one or two kids only. So unless you give up sex afterwards you are changing your purpose of having sex. Having sex for pleasure gets justified too,” she said in the BBC interview.
“People are going through a revolutionary change in their mind and behaviour and my research is at the forefront of the struggle.
“When I gave a lecture in Tianjin, over 1,000 people attended it ... I think the desire suppressed in people’s hearts has bounced out.”
In 2012, American journalist Richard Burger addressed those changes by studying China’s sexual history over a 5,000 year period. His book, titled Behind the Red Door: Sex in China, delves in to the changing face of sex across the country, in the hope of bringing their revolution to mainstream audiences.
Until the late 70s, while under the control of Chinese Communist Mao Zedong, sexuality was extremely controlled and genders somewhat merged. But according to Burger, the real revolution came from the rise of the internet.
“Nothing has affected the sexual revolution like the internet,” Mr Burger said in an interview with Business Insider Australia.
“You can pretty much trace when the sexual revolution gained speed and traction back to when the internet started to become popular.”
Despite the revolution, China still lags behind changes in social customs.
As recently as the 1980s, producers of pornography could be sentenced to death, as could those who organised sex parties. Writing about sex was forbidden until the 1980s, with even authors able to only go so far in their stories.
Today, the punishment for creating pornography is less severe, and although sex parties are still illegal, they go somewhat unnoticed by law enforcement.
In 2014 in Shanghai, a group of Chinese citizens organised an online sex party, but received punishment of only three months criminal detention.
While such acts are punishable by law, a private survey suggests “many people are [engaging] in sex parties or orgies,” but as Ms Yinhe says, “no one reports [them], so they do not get noticed.”
Li Yinhe appears in the four-part documentary series Her Story: The Female Revolution available on BBC World.
Officially, prostitution is illegal in mainland China. Picture: iStock.Source:istock
CHINA’S attitude to sex has gone through a “revolution.”Across 20 years, Chinese citizens are almost five times more likely to have sexual relations before marriage than ever before.
According to Li Yinhe, China’s first female sexologist, this development is because of a “hooliganism law” that enabled women to be arrested for having sex with more than one man.
“In the survey I made in 1989, 15.5 per cent of people had sex before marriage,” Ms Yinhe said in an interview with the BBC, as part of a documentary series for Her Story: The Female Revolution.
“But in the survey I did two years ago, the figure went up to 71 per cent,”
This dramatic change in such a short period of time marks what Yinhe claims is a ‘sexual revolution’ for the people of China, which will be discussed as part of a BBC documentary about The Female Revolution, featuring women around the world who are defining the struggle for equality in the 21st century.
CHINA’S attitude to sex has gone through a “revolution.” Picture: iStock.
But China’s new behaviour towards sexuality has been a slow burn.
Rewind to China pre-1997, a time when all sexual activities outside of marriage were illegal.
The production of pornography, or organising ‘sex parties’ came with the death penalty if caught, and the punishment for prostitution wasn’t far off in terms of severity.
In 1996, a bathhouse owner was sentenced to death for organised prostitution. Compare this with a 24-year-old Beijing woman who recently published seven sex novels online, gaining a viewership of over 80,000, but who received a punishment of just six months prison under the alleviated laws.
With the law regarding sex outside of marriage overturned in 1997, the punishment for having sex outside marriage has fallen off, and fewer people are being punished for these ‘offences.’ Because of this, as Ms Yinhe suggests, China is in the midst of an “era of important changes.”
One of the main areas driving the change in attitudes to sex, according to Li, was the Communist Party’s one-child policy, which was abolished last year.
“The one-child policy allows people to have one or two kids only. So unless you give up sex afterwards you are changing your purpose of having sex. Having sex for pleasure gets justified too,” she said in the BBC interview.
“People are going through a revolutionary change in their mind and behaviour and my research is at the forefront of the struggle.
“When I gave a lecture in Tianjin, over 1,000 people attended it ... I think the desire suppressed in people’s hearts has bounced out.”
American journalist Richard Burgers went on a 5000 year journey of China’s sexual history. Picture: Supplied.Source:Supplied
In 2012, American journalist Richard Burger addressed those changes by studying China’s sexual history over a 5,000 year period. His book, titled Behind the Red Door: Sex in China, delves in to the changing face of sex across the country, in the hope of bringing their revolution to mainstream audiences.
Until the late 70s, while under the control of Chinese Communist Mao Zedong, sexuality was extremely controlled and genders somewhat merged. But according to Burger, the real revolution came from the rise of the internet.
“Nothing has affected the sexual revolution like the internet,” Mr Burger said in an interview with Business Insider Australia.
“You can pretty much trace when the sexual revolution gained speed and traction back to when the internet started to become popular.”
Despite the revolution, China still lags behind changes in social customs.
As recently as the 1980s, producers of pornography could be sentenced to death, as could those who organised sex parties. Writing about sex was forbidden until the 1980s, with even authors able to only go so far in their stories.
Today, the punishment for creating pornography is less severe, and although sex parties are still illegal, they go somewhat unnoticed by law enforcement.
In 2014 in Shanghai, a group of Chinese citizens organised an online sex party, but received punishment of only three months criminal detention.
While such acts are punishable by law, a private survey suggests “many people are [engaging] in sex parties or orgies,” but as Ms Yinhe says, “no one reports [them], so they do not get noticed.”
Li Yinhe appears in the four-part documentary series Her Story: The Female Revolution available on BBC World.
China’s Sexual Revolution Inside
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